Swedish Biotech Pockets $6M as its Cancer Antibody Heads for the Clinic

Alligator Bioscience will receive milestone payments from its partner, Janssen, following the announcement of a combination trial using its cancer antibody. 

Alligator develops antibodies to fight cancer, and today it has announced that it will receive $6M (€5M) in milestone payments from Janssen. This was triggered by the announcement of a combination trial for its candidate, ADC-1013, which will be tested alongside one of Janssen’s PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors. Since the announcement earlier today, Alligator’s stock price has enjoyed a boost of almost 3%. 

ADC-1013 is proposed to stimulate T cells to attack tumors by binding the CD40 co-stimulatory molecule on dendritic cells. The antibody may also kill cancer cells directly through a second mechanism. The candidate has already been tested in 23 patients with late-stage solid tumors in a Phase I trial, during which it was tolerated as both a mono- or combination therapy.

Antibody-based cancer therapies are poised to be an exciting area of biotech in 2018 – confirmed in the closing weeks of 2017 with Argenx raising a massive $231M (€195M) on the back of positive results at ASH. Alligator will also come up against the likes of MorphoSys, which last year enjoyed its first FDA approval and is developing cancer candidates.

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